Plant construction



April 11, 1933. J. F. LABOQMTyrL. '$1,903,510-

'PLANT-f 'CoNsTRUCTlfQNI- i l l i 1 l k l INVENTORS rfa FI Fm B B oww: 3( WW) ATTORNEYS,

Patented Apr. 11, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i JOHN F. LABOON, OF PITTSBURGH, rENNsYLvANIA,'AND FREDERICK i3. BAnNs; or' NEW. YORK, N. Y.; SAID BARNs AssrGNOK To DONALD CAMPBELL, or 'NEW YORK, N. Y.

:PLANTAooNs'rRuoTIoN Application led March 10, 1930. y Serial No. 434,804.

This invention is a novelplant construc-V tion, and relates more particularly to the 'construction and operation of plants or buildings wherein processes are to be performed or substances `are to be treated, the general object being the increase of eiiciency of operation of such plants. 1 Y

While the present invention is usefully available with plants or buildings of various types and for various purposesV or in-` dustrial uses, a typical embodiment has been selected for illustration herein consisting in a `plant or structure for thevevaporation or drying of sludge, for example sewage sludge, wherein the vapors produced by the evaporation constitute an obstruction to efficiency and are,1with' this invention, swept away and removed with rapidity." rI ypically, the heat for drying or evaporating thesludge or other substance may be afforded,

wholly or partially, by solar heat, the plant for this purpose then being covered'bya glazed structure orl glass roof, admitting the suns rays forthe described'purposes; although heat ,may be applied fromunderneath or in other knownfways for various treatments.

Other commercial or industrial uses of the invention include its application to foundries, or to chemical Works, for the ra-pid Vand efficient clearing away from the floory effected with this invention` by a control ofV natural air currents so as to sweep across the working space adjacently `above'the floor, affording notronly an improved letliciency of clearing-action, but an lincrease and` acceleration of air flow. Particularly, in the case of auworking space heatedlby solar 'rays the interior atmosphere is cleared,

thus' lpermitting more efcientv penetration of the rays to the working Vioor of the plant. By the present invention, affording a steady horizontal vairutravel across the working floor or sludge trays or beds, the result or output of operation is very materially increased; for example in a sludge drying plant a-substantially greaterpercentage of; sludge may be dried inra given period of time as compared with known sludge beds.

eration and detail` herein described or illustrated.

In the accompanying drawing l is a general vertical cross sectional view` of a plantconstructed in accordance-'with the present invention, the same being' partly diagrammatic in character.

Fig. 2, on a larger-scale, is a similar view of a detail comprising one of theside Wall` sashes and its' adjusting means.

In one aspect the present invention maybe generally described as a plantconstruction vwhich comprises the lateralA Walls and roof enclosing the working space of the plant,V above "the interior floor. or ground, one or` morel or all of the exterior walls, exposed to atmospheric air currents, beingformed Vwith a system of .sash openings.V of substantial height and size, located somewhat above *the ground line, and each of such' openings being is arranged to be maintainedat what may bej 'described as an inward-downward incline;

whereby natural air .currents flowing toward such wall or walls at the Windward side. or sides of theplant maybe caused to enter the plant at` a descending lslant at each sash opening andthence to flow across the interiorv Yworking space vadjacent tothe floor for exit 'with concrete wall base sections 6 standing above the ground level and surroundingthe Y interior space or floor, which may, for eX- ample, be constructed with an underneath concrete layer or base 7. In the case-of. a sludge drying plant the floor base may give support to a layer or layers 8 of gravel, sand orother porous material, upon which'the bed or layer of sludge 9 is introduced in any desired manner. Theoperations are preferably by batch rather than Continuously,

- each charge of sludge being introduced, dried and removed before another charge is in,-VV troduced.

Above the wall base section 6 are ythe lateral side walls l0 at the left and l()EL at the right. Y For purposes of illustration it is herein assumed that there are natural air currents flowing from the left to the right, thus tending to enter-by the left or windward wallV 10 and leaveby the, right or lee wall 10a, as indicated by the arrows.-

A. typical si'Zefor ka small sludge drying plantis 43 feet in length and 30 feetV in width,v with kthe side wall base sections 6 about 11/2l feet above the ground'and the side walls 6 feet high above the base sections, and

` or larger.

the roofof double pitch rising to a central ridge. A larger plant lmay be 100vby 40 feet The long side walls 10 and 10a are provided, with a system of sashes in accordance with this invention. The end walls 11 may or may not be similarly constructed. lIf the side and end walls are all provided with thisinvention then in the case of a diagonal flow of air one side walland one end wall may be considered as the Windward walls, the air entering and traversing the working space and leaving by the opposite side and end Walls. p f

Y Each of the Iwalls which is provided with the present .invention has a series or horizontal system or row of sash openings 12 of substantial .width and height,'and each of these yopenings is shown as occupied by av sash 13. The sash openings and the sashes at the right or lee -side are indicated .as 12a and Y13a rc-ispe'ctively.V If two rows kof openings .and sashes are .provided at each site, all ofthesashes may be adjusted in the same mannenor in some cases differently.

Each sash 13Ais shown as preferablytophung, or arranged to swing about a horizon# tal fulcrum or hinge .14 at or near its uppermost edge, so that when swung inwardly the sash will Vtakejan inward-downwardy inc-line.

This arrangement gives the full Vbenefit of the sash` opening area Vfor the admission of natural air currentsgtends to admit fmaxi mumV inflow of air.V and most effectively directs the inflow of air at a downward slant to travel horizontally across'the plant adjacent to the floor. Each of the sashes 13 or 13a is preferably a glazed sash so as to admit light to the interior of the plant.

It may be desirable to,set each system of sashes to different inclines under different conditions, and for this purpose devices for adjusting and holding the sashes in various adjusted positions are indicated.V `Thus to each sash is attached Va linkA 15 extending to a lever arm 16 projecting from a vshaft 17 mounted in suitable bearings and carrying a worm wheel 18 operated by a worm 19 which may be turned, for example manual lyby a crank 20, so that in one yoperation all of the sashes along one side of the plant may be simultaneously and equally adjusted.

Preferably each adjusting mechanism is ca p-able of setting the sashes to a slantanyy where between 0 or closed positi-on and 45 or open position. The best angle of adjust-v` ment may depend on various factors such as thefvelocity and pressure of theair currentsor wind, also the outside temperature thereof,y

also the interior conditions and the Vpresence of obstructions at or near the floor.v The best best path and speed of flow within `rthe plant.

The roof is shown as comprising aleft section 21 and -a right section 21a at the windwar-d and lee sides respectively with'a ridge `22 at the peak.- Various types of roof may be j employed but that disclosed is typical. In

the case of a sewage sludgetreating plant it is-prefer-able to employ solar `heat and light,

an-dfor this purpose the roof sections 21 and 22 are shown as composed of glass23, arranged as panes held in a suitable; metallic framework 24 and supported by trusses 25. The. light and heat of the suns rays may afford suliicient action for sewage sludge treatment to dispense with any 'artificial heating.

n Y It issubstantially advantageous to provide, n in addition to the wall openings and sashes, a vsystem of roof openings with Sashestvherein, lThus the Windward section 21 of the roof is open position, although l under certain con-v .o

-ditions Yboth series of roof sashes may be maintained closed and theleewall openings relied. upon for yproper ldischarge' of the f air How. Adjusting devices 27 are indicated similar to those for the side wall sashes, except that the ridge sashes preferably open outwardly. Y

The operation, with the wind blowing from the left, as sh-own by arrows m, is that the full air flow toward the sash openings is received therein and directed -downwardly by the properly inclined sashes and compelled to strike the floor or bed, -along which it travels across the width of the plant, adjacently above the floor, as indicated by arrows y. The lee sashes are preferably adjusted to an inward-downward incline, so that the flow or travel is smoothly outward to open air, .as at y.

The particular value of the roof openings and sashes, which are shown located near the ridge, is in the case of very light natural currents of air, which are reenforced by the ac# tion resulting from the openinv of the ridge sashes at the lee side of the roo This is due to the fact that the vertical dimension of the Y working space affords the effect of a stack,

the warm air and vapors tending to rise and taking their exit by the lee roof sashes, thus promoting substantially the rate of flow of air through the plant without detracting from the effective disposition of the air cur-` rents adjacent to the floor. A portion of the flow across the floor will be diverted into an ascending path, such as shown by the arrows z, curving around and back and nally out by the lee ridge sashes at z. With the sion between the atmosphere in the plant, Iand Y the moisture in the sludge.

jacent to the sludge bed and thence ascendingly for continuous discharge of vapors beneath the sashes at the lee side of theplant.

In witness whereof, we have aflixed our a signatures hereto. Y

JOHN F. LABOON. FREDERICK B. BARNS.

It will thus beseen that there has been described a plant construction embodying'the principles and attaining the objects of the present invention. Since many matters of combination, arrangement, operation and detail may be variously Vmodified withoutfdeparting from the principles of the inven-V tion, it is not intended to limit the invention to such matters except to the extent set forth in the appended claim.

What is claimed is: Y In a sewage drying plant the combinationl of the lateral walls and .roof enclosing'the working space, such walls having a base section standing above the ground level Vand ther-eabove a substantially continuous horizontal series of sash openings 1n a location ele.

vated substantially above the ground level, -an enclosed base adapted to hold a bed of sewage sludge to be dried by evaporatiomlat a level substantially below said sash openings,

and a series of air defiecting sashes in said Y 

